


It's a Working Title (I'll edit later)

by Order_and_Chaos



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, POV Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff Lives, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Team Stark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-08-08 14:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7761478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Order_and_Chaos/pseuds/Order_and_Chaos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Wanda decided to join Team Stark? What if Pietro was alive, if they were able to use the cradle to bring him back? What will happen to her and her brother's relationship? And what will become of her now? What problems and situations will she come to face? Will she ever be able to forget the pain and sorrow of loss in order to find new love?  To find the answer of these questions... all you have to do... is read. And enjoy. Hopefully.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How I came to be in their possesion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fic so bear with me guys. I really hope you like it

I don't know how it happened, it happened so quickly. I was trudging through the forest,we all were, I supposed. We got into another fight, just like at the airport, and almost as bad.

  
I was mostly fine, except for my right leg. I was trying to run from one of Thanos's minions, those flying dirtbags, but I fell off of a small hill and sprained my ankle, or mabye I broke it, I don't know. I was sure after that I lost the alien but I kept going because I thought Natasha was hot on my trail, tracking me, I honestly thought she was right behind me. That might not have been the best idea.

  
It hurt so bad I thought I was going to collapse, I thought my legs would give out on me, and I was suprised they didn't by then. And I knew that once I did fall, I wouldn't have the strength to pick myself back up. I knew that I would be deserted and no one would've been there to save me, except Pietro, but he had his hands full helping cap fight Stark off. And he'd never get here in time anyway, I thought, despite all the time he had.

  
It hurt so bad I hoped the cold would get to it, numb it, so I wouldn't have to feel that hot, sharp pain everytime I set that foot on the ground. I would have used my powers to hover but I didn't think I had it in me. I was too exhausted. Also, I wanted to try and make as little noise as possible. And draw as little attention as possible, but that was pretty hard to do since every time I felt that pain I wanted to scream. Not even that, everywhere around me leaves were crunching, sticks were snapping, that proved it is extremly hard to stay quiet in the woods.

  
I was about to give up. I was so tired, so cold, so in pain, I wanted to quit. I wanted to lie down on the soft moss and close my eyes. That sounded so good, it seemed so tempting to stop. But I knew if I did I'd never have a chance. Then I thought, _"You're never gonna make it, anyways. You're lost, stupid, can't you see? Wait, no, you can't can you? You know why? It's so dark, the only light you have is the moon, and that's barely coming in through the trees. You'll never make it, you'll never get out of here, and you'll never find your brother, at least, not in time. Just face it, you've been beat by death. Just give up, rest, award yourself mercy for failing. Lie down and go to sleep. And don't worry, they'll find your dead body eventually"_. And I almost listened, too. But then--

  
It grabbed me by the shoulder, so swift, and so powerful I was suprised it didn't dislocate it. I fell to the ground instantly, and it dragged me backwards, whatever it was. It happened so quickly I hardly had time to process. I tried to scream, but then I noticed something covering my mouth-- a hand?? We didn't go far, mabye ten feet. It dragged me into this hollow tree. There was a space underneath as well where the roots circled around you, enclosing you, protecting you from the outside. The space in height was considerably tall, you could sit up on your knees in it, you couldn't stand in it, though. The space in width was not as large, unfortunatly. It really only had enough room for one person to fit comfortably.

  
Nevertheless we both squeezed in. It pulled me back as much as it could, as far away from the enterance as possible. I wondered why. Was it scared? Was it planning on using me as a shield? I knew none of my people would be in this area. I honestly thought it was alien, that it was trying to kidnap me, or kill me.

  
A second passed after we both got in. I was still trying to scream, but by now nothing came out. My throat was starting to burn. I was so scared. I knew I wouldn't be able to defend myself if it attacked. But... it never did. That second I heard something I wasn't expecting to hear at all:

  
"Shhh. It's okay, it's okay. It's me. I'm here."

  
I was shocked. I gasped. I recognized that voice. "Vizh?"

  
"Yes. Now don't make a sound when it passes us."

  
"When what passes us?"

  
BOOM. BOOM. Footsteps. BOOM. They stopped. Right in front of us. It was so big. I don't know what it was. It looked like a huge robot killing machine. It was as tall as the trees and carried an oversized assault rifle. It also had what looked like laser blasters on each shoulder.

  
It was scary. It scared me. And it scared me even more to think that Vision might actually be afraid of it. I shut my eyes closed and leaned back. Vision had his arms around me. I did as he said and made no noise at all. Then I saw a bright light through my closed eyelids.

  
My first thought was that it was a searchlight. I was right. It was. I didn't like that I was right. In fact, I hated that I was right, because that scared me even more. It wasn't running away from us. It was looking for us. It wasn't scared of us. And that was frightening.

  
I thought it would find us. I thought we were dead. I knew we were dead. At least, I knew I was dead.

  
But no. I wasn't. Because then the light went off. And BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, boom, boom. It left. I could still hear its footsteps but they got quieter, and quieter, until I couldn't hear them at all. I sighed a sigh of relief, but it sounded more like a shaky exhale. I opened my eyes. "Thank you," I said, "you didn't have to save me."

  
"Of course I did. I saw you, just, standing there, and, then I saw that thing coming, so... What were you doing, anyway?"

  
"Oh, just... uh...thinking."

  
"Oh. Well, anyways, I saw you there so I grabbed you and brought you here. I couldn't just leave you there to die. I would never be able to live with myself if I didn't do anything to help you. And, I'm sorry I just grabbed you and dragged you like that. We just didn't have the time to chat before that thing saw us. Did I hurt you? Are you okay?"

  
"No, not really. But it's not you. I tripped and fell before. I hurt my ankle."

  
"When?"

  
"I don't know... sundown I think."

  
"You realize it's almost dawn, right?"

  
I shook my head. I must've lost track of time. I thought I just fell an hour ago.

  
"Have you been walking on it all this time?"

  
I nodded.

  
"I don't think that was a good idea, Wanda."

  
"I know."

  
"Can I take a look?"

  
"Yeah. It's my right leg."

  
He got out and examined my ankle. I thought now might be a good time to ask. "What was that thing?"

  
He looked up at me. "I have no idea. But, whatever it is, it's strong. And determined."

  
"To do what?"

  
"I think it's trying to find us, all of us."

  
"Why?"

  
"I don't know about you, but, I don't really have any desire to find out."

  
I chuckled, "Yeah, you might have a point."

  
He smiled at me, then turned back. "On a scale of 1-10 how bad is the pain? 10 being unbearable," he asked without looking back up.

  
"Right now? I'd give it a solid five."

  
He lightly touched it, just barely in fact, but it felt like it was being stabbed with a knife. "Ahhh-hh" I tried not to scream but I couldn't help it. "Ten, Ten!"

  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to--" I very faintly saw his face in the little light that we had, but I noticed it was etched with worry.

  
"No. It's okay. I'm fine," I lied. I was doing a bad job at it, though. I was breathing really hard, tears were coming from my eyes, I definently did not look "fine". I was glad you could barely see out there, or I would be busted.

  
"Are you sure?"

  
"Yes," I breathed.

  
"You need to rest, Wanda"

  
I nodded.

  
He got back in the tree and sat down behind me, just like before. He spread out his long legs and I sat in the space between them. That was about the only position we could be in at all in there. I sat back and let my head rest on his shoulder. I closed my eyes and relaxed. He wrapped his arms around me, I think he could sense that I was cold. I fell asleep.

xxxxxx

"Wanda, Wanda, wake up," Vision whispered. He shook me.

  
"No, five more minutes, Pietro..." I groaned.

  
He shook me again. "Wanda, come on."

  
I tried to get up. I forgot about the pain in my foot.

  
"No, no Wanda, don't--"

  
"Ahhh!" I gasped. I looked down at it, my ankle. It was purple and blue and black. It looked horrible. But it hurt even worse. More than before. I screamed.

  
Vizh put his hand over my mouth. I screamed one more time. The pain was excrutiating. "Shhh. I don't know if they're still out there," Vizh whispered. I nodded and he took his hand off. I started to cry, and put my own hand over my mouth. All I could hear were my muffled whimperings. All I could feel was the pain.

  
When I finally got control over myself a couple minutes had passed by. Vision wiped the tears from my face. "What time is it?" I asked.

  
"It's just dawn. I'm sorry I woke you up so early. It's just... I figured we ought to get going. Even though you've only had about an hour to rest."

  
"It's ok. I can't walk, Vizh."

  
"I'll carry you, then."

  
"Where would we even be going?"

  
"To find the others. To get to safety. And to get you help. Your ankle looks bad."

  
"Yes, I'm aware."

  
He picked me up and we started walking towards the last place we saw them. We agreed to head East, toward the sunrise, because that's the direction the parking lot's in, and the parking lot's the last time we both saw them fighting.

  
"I want to find Pietro," I said after we had been walking for a few minutes.

  
He noddded. "You will."

  
"Hold on..." I said.

  
Vision stopped.

  
"Why don't you just fly up, see if we're actually headed the right way?"

  
"Tired already?" he joked, as he sat me down on a nearby log.

  
"I'm serious, Vision," I scolded.

  
He sighed, "It's probably best to stay low. I'm not sure if that thing's still out there."

  
"Right." I thought a bit about last night. "Are you actually afraid of it?"

  
"Well, I'm afraid if it spots me it'll find us and I'll have to fight. And that could cause a wildfire. I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize to you, of course," he paused, "or any wildlife in the area. Or any other life forms close by." He cleared his throat.

  
I chuckled. "We should probably get going."

  
He nodded and reached down to pick me back up. I stopped him. "Let me see if I can stand up."

  
"Are you sure?"

  
I nodded. He took a step back but made sure to stay close, just in case.

  
It was hard for me to get up. I placed both hands on each side of me and exhaled. I pushed on the log. It took me a while to actually get up though. I had to gather my strength to even think about standing. But I did, after, like, seven attempts. I felt wobbly, though and had to shift all of my weight to my left leg. Then I tried to walk. Bad idea. As soon as I tried to step down with that foot... let's just say, at that time, it was pretty impossible to step down with that foot. I fell. And almost hit the ground, but, Vision caught me.

  
He sighed and sat me back down on the log. "You okay?" he asked.

  
"I don't know," I replied, "I don't know, Vizh. I'm tired, hungry, thirsty, and in desperate need of a pain pill. So no, I don't know if I'm okay."

  
He stared at me. I hated when he did that. It made me feel small. He sighed.

  
So did I. "I'm sorry, it's just... It hurts so much."

  
"I know, I know." He tried to calm me down, to comfort me. I appreciated that. He was a good guy, always nice to me. And We were good friends. And we'd never really hurt each other in the battlefield. I'd never wanted to hurt him, and never felt any desire to. Apparently neither had he, or I would be dead by now. "Come on, I think we're almost there."

And we started East again.

  
It was getting a little lighter out, which was good. At least now we could see twenty feet in front of us.

  
Soon, we got to the parking lot, and Vizh set me down on another log so he could go check to see if it was safe. I could see the cement in the parking lot beween the trees, but, not much else in that direction. Vizh walked up to the parking lot and turned his head left. He smiled. Then he turned back to me and held up his index finger to tell me to wait a minute. Then he ran to the left. I waited.

xxxxxxx

"Hey, Vizh! We were about to leave without you, buddy," Stark yelled at him. He gestured for Vision to hurry and get in the quinjet.

  
Vizh went up to him, "Wait, Tony. Where's Cap and his team?"

  
"They already left, the cowards. Too afraid to help us take on that thing, or whatever."

  
"You destroyed it?"

  
"No. We had a hard time. It got away. We also have some casualties, so... we've got to go. Come on," he walked in the quinet via ramp.

  
"Stark!" Vision called after him.

  
He turned around. "What?"

  
"Is there space on the quinjet for another person?" he asked.

  
Stark sighed and walked back down the ramp. "It depends on who it is."

  
"Wanda," Vision replied.

  
"She hurt?"

  
Vision nodded.

  
"Bad?"

  
He nodded again.

  
Stark nodded and headed back in the quinjet. "Go ahead and bring her aboard," he said, "we'll wait."

  
Vizh flew off towards me.

  
Stark came aboard. In front of him was Natasha... that's it. Since Rhodes was still in rehab and T'Challa was in Wakanda for the month, it was just those three: Vizh, Stark, and Nat.

  
She was sitting on a gurney, complaining about sitting on a gurney. "Is this really necessary? I feel fine."

  
"Yes, it's necessary. You could have a concussion. And I told you to lie down."

  
"Come on, Tony. I told you I feel fine. I didn't even hit my head that hard. And you said you could use help flying back."

  
"Yes, you did hit your head hard. Very hard in fact, and the only reason why you're not telling me how much it hurts now is because you took, like, three of the strongest painkillers I had aboard at the same time. And I can just get Friday to help me."

  
Nat grumbled.

  
"Oh, and by the way, we have a guest coming so I expect you to be on your best behaviour, okay?"

  
"Haha, funny. Wait, are you serious?"

  
"Yeah, Maximoff girl. Vizh says she's hurt pretty bad. Team's abandoned her. Except for her brother, I didn't see him get on their quinjet, so, mabye he's searching the woods looking for her."

  
"Oh, yeah. Probably, huh?"

  
Stark just nodded.

xxxxxx

Vizh flew up to me. "Safe?" I asked him.

  
"Yeah," he replied, "safe, but..."

  
"But what?"

  
"You're gonna have to trust us, okay?"

  
"'Us'? What do you mean 'us'?"

  
"Your team's gone, Wanda. Stark said they left awhile ago. I'm sorry."

  
"Vizh, I know my brother. He wouldn't leave me."

  
"I know he wouldn't. He's probably looking for you."

  
"Then I have to find him."

  
"No, Wanda. Look, your brother will be fine, I'm sure. We need to go. I convinced Stark to wait for us."

  
"I'm not going to leave him here," I said sternly.

  
"Wanda, please."

  
She sighed. "Fine. But just because I have to. My ankle is killing me."

  
"I hope you don't mean literally," he chuckled as he picked me back up.

xxxxxxxx

When we got into the quinjet Stark was waiting to help us. I was suprised he cared enough to even wait for us to get on board. Nat was standing by him. He reluctantly let her. And I used the gurney she did before.

  
"Okay, let's set some things established, here," he said to me.

  
I turned to him. I was sitting on the gurney with my legs straight out, and my back rested on the wall behind me.

  
"We're not going to hurt you," he said, gesturing to the three of them, "and you can't hurt us, deal?"

  
I nodded. Even if I wanted to hurt them, which I don't, I doubt I'd have the strength to do it.

  
We headed for the Avengers Facility, which was now more like the place Stark and his team stayed. We, on the other hand, stayed in Wakanda. It was hot there.

  
It didn't take us long to get there. Stark parked it on the roof and we all got out. They took me immediatly to the medstation where some doctors took a look at my ankle and made sure Romanoff didn't have a concussion, like Stark was worried about.

  
They took x-rays and someone got me some water and a burger from Shwarma. After an hour of waiting they finally came back in to see me and said my ankle was broken. They advised I agree to have surgery on it right then. So, I said sure and the last thing I remember is counting down from ten.

xxxxxxx

"So, where did you even _find_ her?" Stark asked. He and Vizh were roaming the halls, waiting to hear back from the doctors.

  
"Well, I was in the forest, trying to track it down, to see where it lead me, and I just saw her standing there. Then, I saw that thing coming and that she was conveniently in its line of fire so I grabbed her, and we hid in a hollow tree until it passed."

  
"Huh. Well, I hope she's all right."

  
"Yeah, me too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments, Criticisms, concerns are welcome. And if you have an idea for a chapter don't hesitate to comment it and I'll try to get it in the story line. I need ideas so that would be really helpful. Thanks for reading! :)


	2. The Family

Fortunatly, I was. The surgery was a success, and I was fine. So was Nat, which made her happy by proving Stark wrong. He said to her, "it's better to be safe than sorry," when she checked out.

  
 After I checked out, which took a while, at least three days, I went in my room and lied down on my bed. I say "my" because that was the room I used before I left, before cap's team wasn't welcome at the place Stark built for all of us. After I woke up from my five hour nap I took a much needed shower. I would've tried to track down Pietro, seen if any news reports were claiming to have seen him recently, but, I figured it wouldn't be of much help. Even if I did find him I have no way to contact him and I know that I won't be leaving the facility until I was much better, so, I decided to put it off until later.

  
 A few minutes after that Vision visited me. He knocked on the door and I just said to come in because I didn't feel like using my crutches to walk over and open it myself. He wanted to make sure I was all right. I said I was doing okay and that my ankle still hurt but not quite as much. Then he asked if I needed anything. "...Something to eat, something to drink? Extra blankets? Towels?" He specified.

  
 "Well, no, not really. But there's something I could _use_ , if, of course, it wouldn't be much trouble for you."

  
 "No, of course it won't be any trouble. What is it?"

  
 "Some company would be nice," I shrugged, "it might sound stupid, I know. But, I'm just not used to being alone. I've always had Pietro, you know? I miss him."

  
 "I understand. What would you like to do?"

  
 "I don't know. Mabye watch a movie or something."

  
 "Of course. Was there one in particular you were thinking of?"

  
 "Not really, but, I feel like I could watch a comedy. Anything funny you can find would be great."

  
 "Alright. I'll be back shortly," he nodded, and left through the door.

 

 

xxxxx

 "How about this one?" Vizh asked when he came back fifteen minutes later. He handed me a dvd. It was labeled "Dumb and Dumber To". "I looked it up," he said, "the reviews are hilarious."

  
 "Yes! Excellent! Thanks Vision, this is exactly what I was talking about. Come on, let's go watch it in the screening room."

  
 We started out the door when a thought occured to me. "Vizh, where are the others?"

  
 "Well, the last time I saw them, Mr. Stark was polishing his helmet and Ms. Romanoff was headed to the shooting range outdoors."

  
 "Do you think mabye they'd want to watch it with us?"

  
 "Well, I'm not sure but it would be polite to ask."

  
 "You're right. We should see if they want to watch it too."

  
 "All right. I'll meet you there."

  
 Then he went off to see if anyone else wanted to watch it, while I headed for the screening room. Once I got there I set it up and it was ready by the time Vizh came back, along with Stark and Nat. "Who wouldn't want to see Dumb and Dumber To? Besides, there's nothing else to do," I heard Natasha say when they walked in.

  
 "Um... yes there is," Stark argued.

  
 "Uh-oh, I just hit the pinata with a missile, didn't I?" Nat sarcastically remarked.

  
 "Like, what _isn't_ there to do here?" he asked, "I'm not kidding, am I _missing_ something? Please, tell me since you're obviously _so_ bored here."

  
 Natasha turned to him, "A mission. A mission is something we don't have here."

  
 "You want a mission?" Stark sarcastically asked.

  
 "Yeah, I'd love a mission."

  
 "Oh, yeah? Here it is... go make some popcorn." He pointed out the door.

  
 "Really?" she asked as she crossed her arms.

  
 "Yeah, I'm starving," his voice broke.

  
 She scoffed and then walked out.

  
 Vizh and Tony continued walking. "You guys argue like and old couple," Vision chuckled.

  
 "Yeah, well you know we've always been like that, and, you know, she secretly loves me."

  
 "Oh yeah, sure she does," Vizh said sarcastically. I've noticed he was getting better at that.

  
 "She does. Like a brother."

  
 "Uh-huh, okay. Well, believe what you want Stark."

  
 "I do."

  
 "That's wonderful."

  
 Watching them talk was kinda sorta funnier than I imagined our movie to be. It was nice to feel like I was with a family. Because that's how it felt. Like they were a family. On Cap's side, I never really felt that way, no one did. The only conversations we all had were about battleplans. And, that's the only reason we were ever all in a room together.

Everyone else was too busy doing their own things that no one had time for anyone else.

  
 They both sat down next to me. We waited for Nat come come back with the popcorn. And she did come back five minutes later, we just didn't know it. Apparently she had snuck in without us seeing and came up behind us. She poured a huge bowl of popcorn all over Tony. That was the hardest I'd laughed in a long time.

 

 

xxxxx

 The next day I caught Tony in the kitchen. He was standing on the other side of the counter, near the fridge, eating a bowl of cereal. "Can you pass me the water?" I asked him. I brought the glass I was using into the kitchen to get some more water. He turned around, opened the fridge, and handed me the container they kept it in.

  
 "Here you go," he said.

  
 "Thanks." I poured the water into my glass and left the container on the counter for him.

  
  And I was about to leave when he said," I'm sorry."

  
 I stopped in my tracks and turned around to face him. "For what?"

  
 He sighed. "For what happened to your parents, and for what happened to you and your brother. I'm sorry that you don't trust me, and I'm sorry that you don't think I care," he said as he walked over to me.

  
 "It's okay," I replied.

  
 "No, it's not. Look, I can tell that you like it here. Everyone can. And we all like having you here. It's been fun. It's also been forever since my team's seen a movie together. Thank you for that. I know that you don't trust me, I know. It's my fault what happened. _My_ name was on that shell, I know it was. And I take full responsibility for that."

  
 "Thank you, but, I don't see your point."

  
 "My point is that your ankle is healing tremendously fast. You can walk on it now, and only yesterday you got out of the medstation. I'm sure almost all of the pain's gone. My point is that soon you'll be well enough to go, mabye even by tomorrow, and I'm sure that you'll be wanting to get back to your people as soon as you can. But the three of us, we've had a discussion, and thought it was worth it to ask, though we sorta figured you'd say no."

  
 "Ask me what?"

  
 He waited a few seconds. "We agreed on asking you how you would feel about joining."

  
 "Your team?"

  
 "Yes."

  
 I chuckled. "Have you even run this by your other teammates?"

  
 "Well... not really, uh... See, T'Challa's been in Wakanda for a while now and we can't seem to get ahold of him, and his vacations always last longer than he says they will. And Rhodey, well, we don't know anything about Rhodey. He's still paralyzed, that's about all the rehab people in Norway will tell me. They're the best, but take patient-doctor confidentiality to the next level. Even though I'm the one who payed for it, checked him in, and... I even gave them my phone number. And until they come back, they don't have a say in this."

  
 I didn't know what to say. And I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He was actually asking me to join their team. But it's not like I could ever say yes... could I?

  
 "How about you sleep on it, okay?"

  
 I just nodded and headed for my room.

 

 

xxxxxx

 That night I did as Stark said and thought more about it.  _"You can't just betray cap like that. And what about Pietro? Would he just fight on this side too, just because you switched over? Or would he stay loyal to cap? And they can't change the way you believe. You believe we should be free, that the government has no right to control us. But mabye they do. And mabye you do want to switch. Mabye you don't. But one thing for certain is that you like it here. You enjoy what this place has to offer. And you enjoy the people. They've been nothing but kind to you, Wanda. And on Cap's team, yes, you can trust them and rely on them in the battlefield, but not 24/7. Not like you can rely on Tony, Nat, and Vision right now. Except for your brother. You could always trust him. You miss him."_  
 By the end of the night I had made my decision.

 

 "I can't," I said in front of the three of them. We were all sitting down in the living room. Vizh, Nat, and Stark were opposite of me, all sitting on the couch, while I sat on a recliner in front of them. Stark leaned back.

  
 "I understand," he said. They all looked kinda dissapointed. So was I. Because I knew I wanted to stay, but I couldn't bring myself to actually... stay.

  
 They all got up. So did I. "Right... so, you wanted to leave today?"

  
 I nodded.

  
 He nodded back. "We'll drop you off."

  
 He and Nat left without another word. Vision stayed, though, and just stared at me.

  
 "What?" I asked him.

  
 He shook his head, "The question isn't 'what' it's 'why'?"

  
 "Fine, then. _Why_?"

  
 "Well," he sat back down on the couch, "I'm here to change your mind."

  
 "Please," I begged him. I sat back on the recliner.

  
 "So, let's start with why you said no."

  
 "Guilt, I guess is the biggest part of it. I can't betray cap."

  
 "Is there anything else?"

  
 "Pietro. I'm worried about what might happen. If he'd stay on cap's side, or switch over to this one."

  
 "That's it? Those are the only reasons you said no?"

  
 I nodded.

  
 "Okay, then lets talk about why you'd want to switch."

  
 "Well, everyone's been kind to me. And, you. You saved my life. I would've died out there if you hadn't seen me."

  
 "You don't know that."

  
 "Yes I do," I sighed, "Remember when you said you just saw me standing there, and I said I was thinking?"

  
 He nodded.

  
 "I was thinking about quitting. I was gonna stop. And I knew that if I stopped I would die. I would lie down and I wouldn't be able to get up. I would've froze. And no one would've been there to help," I was starting to tear up," but I was _wrong_. Because you were there to help. You, and Stark, and Nat." I sighed. "I like it here, Vizh. I feel at home. I feel like... like you're all family. And I want to be a part of it."

  
 "We are, and you _can_ be. Just, say yes."

  
 I sighed. "Cap's team was never like this. No one really hung out with anyone else unless we were fighting. Everyone was always doing their own thing."

  
 "That sounds lonely."

  
 I nodded. "I want to stay for a couple more days. If that's all right." I got up and walked over to the window.

  
 "Of course. You're welcome as long as you want. Stark wanted to make sure you knew that."

  
 "Why me? Is it because of my parents? Is that why he's been so kind to me?"

  
 "He seems to have a soft spot for you, Wanda. He cares about you like he does Natasha and I. It may be part guilt, but, he really does care. Genuinly."

  
 I nodded.

  
 He then got up and walked over to me. He stood a few feet behind me and then gently placed his hand on my shoulder. It rested there a couple of seconds. Then I heard him walk away.

 

 

xxxxxxxx

 The next few days were great. We all talked, we all laughed. We all had a great time together. And it was becoming more difficult to think of leaving. Much more difficult. And it became even more difficult to think that when I went back to cap, I would be expected to fight them. But then, on the seventh night, disaster struck. And it struck hard.

  
 I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. At first I didn't know what it was that woke me. But then I heard it again. Glass shattering. It was then I noticed an alarm was going off. My door burst open. It was Nat. "We've got a breach." She gestured for me to get out.

  
 Tony was in living room, staring at the shattered windows. We joined him. Then Vizh flew in. "Who did this?" I asked.

  
 "I don't know," Nat answered.

  
 "But whoever it was--"

  
 "They're in the building," Vision cut Stark off.

  
 We silently stared at each other for a few seconds.

  
 "Friday," Stark said.

  
  _"Yes, boss?"_  


  
 "Get me a visual. Where are they?"

  
 A blue screen popped up on the wall. The facilitiy's blueprints. On it, three locations were glowing. The gym, beneath us, the screening room, above us, and... I gulped. Our floor was glowing. In it were five red dots. The red dots indicated heat signatures. Four of them were in a bunch, next to each other, and the fifth one was to our right. In the dining room. On the other side of the kitchen door. We all turned our heads just in time to see the doorknob jiggle. We had about three seconds.

  
 "Vizh, Wanda?" Stark whispered to us as he grabbed Nat and hid behind the couch. Vizh and I rushed to the counter and ducked down. I heard a gun cock and Stark's metal hand being put on. I wasn't suprised. I'm sure they hid guns and armor almost everywhere.

  
 I heard the door creak open. Then footsteps on the other side. They sounded so close. I got ready to attack. Vision crawled forward a bit and peeked his head around the counter. Then he crawled back and looked at me.

  
  "What?" I mouthed. My hands were emitting the red energy now. I lifted them into the air a bit. Vision grabbed them and forced them on the ground. Then he motioned for me to stand up. I shook my head. He got close and whispered in my ear, "trust me".

  
  I looked back at him for a second. Then I stood up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you guys like this. Comments, Criticisms, Concerns are very welcome. Hopefully chapter three will be up in a few days. Thanks for reading :)


	3. My Choice

"Steve?" I was shocked. But there he was, standing there.

"Wanda. Good thing I ran into you. We don't have much time."

"Time for what?"

"What do you mean 'time for what'?" he chuckled, " Time to get you out of here. Let's go." He headed for the door but stopped when he noticed I wasn't following. He turned to me. "What's wrong? Come on."

I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out.

"Something's wrong. We were kinda expecting you to be locked behind a door. Mabye being tortured. But you seem fine."

"I am."

A confused look sat on his face.

I sighed. "I'm not going with you, cap."

"Why? Did they threaten you?"

"No," I replied, "But I'm going to stay here."

"I don't understand."

"Then I'll make it real simple for ya, old man," Tony said as he stood up.

"Stark!" Nat grumbled as she stood up as well.

Rodgers readied his shield and Nat aimed her gun at him.

Vision came up too. "Enough!" he yelled. "Both of you, stand down. Now." No one moved. "Now, Nat. No one needs to get hurt." Nat scoffed and then set her gun down. Then he nodded to cap, "your turn, Captain Rodgers." Cap reluctantly put his shield away.

A few seconds passed. "So... this is awkward, right?" Stark remarked.

"I _knew_ we would find her here. I _knew_ because I knew _you_ , Tony. And I knew you would try to manipulate her into switching," Cap pointed at Stark.

"He didn't manipulate me. It was _my_ choice. Mine to make, no one helped me," I argued.

"Don't you see he's playing you? He wants you to _think_ he cares about you, they _all_ want you to think that. And once they're through with you they'll throw you away."

"Like you did? As soon as we were done fighting, as soon as you were done using us you left all of us to ourselves, and you called it a team. And he does care, they all do. They saved me. And I bet the only reason you came to get me is because you wanted me to fight for you, but I'm done with that. I'm not your soldier, Steve. At least, not anymore."

He nodded. "Fine, have it your way. But I can assure you you're gonna regret your decision." He started for the door," Oh, and, by the way, your brother's downstairs. I'll be sure to give him the bad news." He left.

A few minutes passed in silence. Then Tony took his glove off. Nat sat on the couch. Tony and Vision followed. I just stood there.

"That was pretty dramatic, "Nat said.

I sat with them on the couch.

"Friday?" Tony asked.

_"Yes, boss?"_

"They gone?"

_"Yes, boss. No other heat signatures in the building but the four of you. And video surveillance shows them leaving about a minute ago."_

"Good. That's good."

I couldn't believe some of the things Cap said. I didn't mean to hurt him, I didn't mean to hurt anyone, but... I had to choose. So I chose what I thought was best for me. And I don't regret it. Not now.

"We should all go back to bed," Nat suggested.

Stark nodded. "You guys go. I'll stay up just in case. Friday'll keep me awake, right Friday?"

_"Oh, yes, sir. I'll talk your ear off if you'd like me too."_

"Are you sure?" Vision asked.

"Yeah , I'll be fine. You guys get some sleep."

"Alright."

We three got up and walked towards the hall. Nat entered her room. I opened my door and was about to go in when Vizh grabbed my hand. I turned back.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I am."

He nodded. "That's good. I'm glad." He creased his eyebrows, cocked his head, and looked down to the floor. "You trusted me," he said and looked back at me.

"I did."

"I wasn't expecting you to," he confessed.

"Well, it's nice you got a little suprise tonight, isn't it?" I sarcastically asked. I sighed. "You need to know that I trust you, Vizh. And you need to know you can trust _me,_ as well. Okay?"

"Yeah, of course," he said softly. I noticed he was still grasping my hand. I looked down at them, our hands. Then so did he. "Oh, sorry," he apologized, and let go.

I shook my head. "It's fine," I assurred him, "Good night, Vision."

"Good night," he said as he walked off toward his room.

I got into mine then closed the door. I fell asleep almost as soon as I got under the covers.

 

xxxxxxxx

That night I drempt of Pietro. I saw that he was dissapointed in me, but he missed me. We've never been apart this long before. I wanted to see him. But I knew that was impossible right now. Especially after what just happened.

 

xxxxxxxx

In the morning I found Stark in the living room. He was still awake. A bit. "Good morning," I said loudly. He was turned around the other way so he didn't see me coming, and I startled him. He jumped up and turned around. I laughed.

He sighed in relief. "Oh, god. You scared me!" he chuckled.

"Sorry," I replied, still smiling. "You know, you can go back to bed now. I'm awake."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Thanks."

"Mmm-hmm."

"Good night," he said as he slowly walked back to his room.

I made coffee for Nat and I. Then I grabbed a book from the shelf and sat down on the couch.

 

xxxxxxxx

Vision got up a few minutes after that, then Nat did. She drank her coffee in the kitchen while Vision joined me on the couch, reading his own book. A few minutes had passed by and now all you could hear was the occasional flipping of pages and the faint sipping of the hot beverage from a plain black mug. Vision turned and looked at me.

I don't know how long he'd been staring before I finally noticed and looked up to find his eyes locked onto mine.

I chuckled after a few seconds. "Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Are you?"

The smile that previously sat on my face erased and seriousness replaced it. "Why wouldn't I be?"

He glanced over his shoulder at Natasha, who was pretending not to listen but, of course, _was._ "You know. And if you need to talk about last night, I'm here. Or perhaps you'd prefer to talk to Natasha or Mr. Stark, someone who understands loss a bit better. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you asked."

"Wait, _loss?_ " I scoffed. "What do you think I _lost_?" my voice raised. "I didn't _lose_ anything!" I nearly shouted as I got off of the sofa and quickly headed for my room.

As I walked Vision's words sunk deep into my brain. _"What did he mean when he said you lost something?"_ I wondered. _"The only thing you might've lost is Cap's trust, but, that couldn't be what he meant, could it? No. Vizh should know you don't care if you posess Steve's trust. You made that abundantly clear last night, didn't you? So what did he mean? What could you have just lost that you actually care about?"_

I wondered about that for a while. _"No. He couldn't have meant that. You couldn't have lost him, could you? Pietro. Was he talking about Pietro?"_

I reached my room. _"No, you could never lose Pietro."_

I went in then closed the door, and lied down flat on my back, staring at the white painted ceiling above my bed. _"No, never Pietro. Remember that day, about a week after your parents died, when you made that pact with him? You both promised that you would always stay together, and that you'd never, ever lose each other, and that you'd take care of each other, and always love one another."_ I sighed. _"He misses you just as much as you miss him, Wanda,"_ I reassured myself.

 

xxxxxxxx

"I said something," Vision grumbled to no one in particular. "What did I say?" he wondered aloud.

"You said a lot of things."

Vision jumped at the sound, startled. He had completely forgot Natasha was there drinking coffee. He glanced over at her, still drinking the coffee but now she held this morning's newspaper in her hands.

"Yes, he agreed," now staring out the window. "But it was one thing in particular that upset her."

She looked up at him from her newspaper, then continued reading. "Well, you _did_ mention her trigger word. Mabye _that_ was what made her upset."

He cocked his head and looked back at her. "Loss?"

She nodded as she brought the mug to her lips and drank.

He turned around, taking a step toward her. "Should I go after her?"

"Probably not," she said, not looking up, "when she's ready to talk she'll come to you."

Vision nodded. "I understand." He sighed. "I'm gonna head to my room," he said as he started for his quarters.

 

xxxxxxxx

And, sure enough, _knock, knock_. Natasha was right. _Knock_ \--

Vision opened the door to his room halfway. I stood there guiltily. "I'm sorry." I couldn't look him in the eyes. I knew I shouldn't have snapped at him like I did. But they way he appeared, the way he talked, the way he dressed, it was hard to remember he was only a few years old. _He still doesn't quite understand some things,_ I constantly have to remind myself. Just like I'm sure he didn't know why I became so upset when he said those words, because he's never really experienced it, _loss._ And in that way he's lucky. He doesn't realize it though, he still desires to be human, to know emotion and to understand love. But once you love, you lose. Even in the beginning. You lose a bit of your heart in the beginning, the bit that the person you love takes. And you lose even more when they're taken from you, snatched up out of thin air. And they fall down, down, down, through the hole in the floor. Or you feel a thousand bullets pierce through them, you feel it.

And he doesn't realize how lucky he is to not have loved.

He didn't say anything, he just stares at me with those beautiful, gentle eyes of his. I can't help but catch a quick glance at them before quickly darting mine back to the floor. Then he opened the door further, and I walked in.

He closed the door behind me and I turned to him.

"I'm extremely sorry for what I said to you, and especially _how_ I said it. I--"

He held up his hand, and I stopped. "There's no need to apologize. I understand why you were upset."

"You do?"

"Yes, well, Natasha may have helped to enlighten me a bit," he said the last part a little softer, probably hoping I wouldn't hear it.

I laughed at that.

He smiled.

"So, when you said I lost something, what was it that you thought I had lost?" I asked after I was done laughing and the atmosphere had become serious again.

He creased his eyebrows in confusion. "I'm not sure. Mabye because you had chosen us instead of them, I assumed you would've lost a few friends. Clint and your brother especially." He walked around the room. "But then, after your outburst, and after some consideration, I came to the conclusion that I might be wrong." She watched as he stopped pacing, sitting himself down at the chair near his desk.

"How so?"

"Well, _we've_ dissagreed on a couple of things, _we've_ fought on opposite sides, and our friendship survived nevertheless. How's this any different from what we went through? Or what Clint and Natasha went through?"

"I'm betraying them. Pietro and Clint. I've abandoned them. All of them. I'm not sure _I'd_ be able to forgive myself."

"Well, then, you're putting them to a test. To see if they're worth feeling guilty over. If they forgive you, they are, and if they don't, they aren't." He sighed. "Barton and your brother will forgive you, Wanda. It depends on the others to forgive you as well, and if they don't, they aren't worth your friendship."

"So, your point is that I should feel guilty about Clint and Pietro and no one else?" I asked questionably.

"My point is that the others aren't worth the effort of trying to earn their forgiveness, and Clint and Pietro will automatically forgive you, so, if you think about it, you don't really have anything to be sorry for."

I chuckled. "Thanks, Vizh. I think."

"Your welcome," he nodded once and smiled at me.

A few seconds passed, "Well, I should probably go, Stark said I should start training in the training room, but I have no idea how to use it. Nat said she'd teach me after she gets done helping him with some of the Iron Legion designs, which shouldn't take too long."

"Yes, well, good luck with training," he said as I opened the door.

"Thank you." I headed towards the lab to see if Natasha was done.

 

xxxxxxxx

When you open the door to the training room, the first thing you see is a small space. A tiny, seperate room that had only a mirror and a stand at the front with a screen on the top. It was podium shaped but the stand was really thin and a wire wrapped around it, starting at the screen and ending through the small hole in the floor. It reminded me of those interrogation rooms at the police stations, and always, in the rooms, there would be a mirror. And on the other side of that mirror was a smaller room, and through the mirror in the smaller room, you could watch the people get questioned without them being able to see you.

Nat walked over to the stand and tapped the screen. We both looked up at the mirror as it changed. Previously, it showed only our reflection, but now, it displayed a larger room on the other side. A really large room.

And the big room was empty. No windows, no chairs, no tables, no lights, no nothing. But the walls were strange. They appeared glassy, and black in color, nothing like regular walls.

We turned back to the screen when it glowed blue. The first option it gave you were numbers. Two rows of six.

"The first thing you do is say how many people are going to be training. You can be training by yourself or up to twelve people." Natasha explained. She tapped the one.

The numbers dispersed and a white blank rectangle replaced it. A number keyboard came up on the screen.

"Now you type in how many opponents you'd like." She tapped the one and the box and keyboard left the screen. The words easy, medium, and hard replaced that.

"Now you choose whether or not your opponent will be hard to defeat. It just depends on how you're feeling. If you're up for it, you can choose hard, and your opponent will be one classified as hard to beat for one person. But if you chose more people to train with you and you pick "hard", the opponent will be picked from the pile classified as hard to beat for however many people you're training with. Get it?"

I nodded.

"And your opponent will be different every time, so, for example, if you choose one person: one opponent: hard, one day, then choose one person: one opponent: hard, the next day, even though you chose the exact same thing, you'll always have a new opponent. It's really cool."

I nodded.

"So, I think I covered everything. Simple, right? Now, do you want to start training today, or tomorrow?"

"I think I'll give it a go right now."

"Okay. Good choice. I like your spirit, kid. So, easy, medium, or hard?"

"Let's try medium."

Nat tapped the screen and two words appeared in a circle-like button: Start Trial. And then my monster appeared. A yellow-ish thread of light circled around it. It looked like it had been beamed up to the U.S.S Enterprise. Then the yellow stuff went away and I could see it clearly.

Nat pointed to the door near the mirror, one that I strangely hadn't noticed before. "Go on. Don't be shy. Give me a signal when you're ready to begin."

I walked to the door and placed my hand on the knob. I took a glance back at Nat before I opened it and stepped inside. It was seriously huge, in fact, I think that the training room is the definition of "huge".

I turned to my monster. It definently looked alien. Picture a centuar but red and with huge horns sticking up from its head. It also had a really ugly look on its face, but it didn't seem like he saw me. It was like he stared right passed me, and he just stood there.

I looked back at the mirror. It was an actual mirror now, though. I could only see my reflection and the black walls behind me. I popped my knuckles and my neck, and stretched my arms a bit. Then I nodded my head at the mirror and turned back to the alien.

It was then I noticed that I was somewhere else. It looked dusty and the ground beneath me was a reddish-orange color. I looked up and could see planets above me, like you can see the moon at night, except I wasn't looking at the moon, and it wasn't night, it was still light out but not as bright as in the mornings and afternoons, mabye sunset? And the planets seemed too close for me to be on Earth. I realized it's kinda how I pictured Mars to look like.

Then I heard a deep growl and a high pitched scream. I snapped my head in the direction the noise was coming from. It was staring at me. My monster. It lightly dug at the ground with its right hoof, not breaking its gaze from me. I gulped. It charged. So did I.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry Cap seems like a total jerk, I just thought it'd be interesting to catch a glance at his dark side. Please don't hate me. I promise he'll be nicer later on. I know he's probably really OOC but... And please leave comments, they really help. And I need some new ideas so if you have some don't hesitate to comment them. The three C's are greatly appreciated. Hope you liked it :)


	4. Love and Loss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's gonna be a bit shorter than the other ones. Sorry about that. And sorry if it sucks.

The next day I was unbelievably sore. I probably just didn't stretch enough before I started fighting my monster yesterday.

Eventually I won the fight after being thrown around by it a couple of times. That thing is _seriously_ powerful. I hate to think what would've happened if I chose hard. I'd probably be back in the medstation.

So I just lied on my bed most of the day. Around five pm I heard a knock on my door. I groaned as I got up out of bed and walked over to the door, opening it.

"Hey," Natasha greeted, "you okay? We've noticed you haven't come out much today."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just sore. And I think I pulled a few muscles."

She chuckled. "Yeah, that happens. Especially if you haven't fought in a while. Keep doing it, though. It'll get better, and soon, you won't feel the pain at all. You'll just get stronger."

I nodded.

She smiled at me. "So, if you feel like it, dinner's ready."

"Alright." I walked into the hallway and closed my bedroom door. "So what are we having?" I asked while Nat and I headed towards the kitchen.

"Spaghetti," Nat simply replied.

"Who made it?" I asked.

"Well, first, Vizh did, but it didn't turn out so well."

"Why? What happened?"

"It's Vizh we're talking about, Wanda. What do you _think_ happened? He burned it. Poor Vision."

I nodded.

"So I cooked it after that. Laura Barton's secret recipe. She's the one that taught me how."

We reached the kitchen. The guys were sitting at the counter in the kitchen, because, well, who even eats in their dining room anymore? Tony was hunched over, eating the spaghetti from the plate in front of him like that was the first thing he'd eaten in days.

While Vision had no plate in front of him. He just watched Tony gulf the noodles down his throat. He always insisted on having dinner with them, even though he couldn't eat. He said he enjoys the conversation that comes while eating a meal, or rather, watching people eat their meals. That's another thing he said he enjoys: _watching_ people eat. It sounds a bit weird and unusal but _he_ is weird and unusual, so we all decided we were okay with it.

"Hey, boys," Nat called to them, and they both looked up from their previous distractions.

"Good Evening, Natasha, Wanda," Vision politely greeted.

I nodded at him.

"Oh my God, Nat!" Stark spoke with his mouth full. "This," he swallowed the food so you could hear him more clearly, "is, like, the _best_ spaghetti I've ever had."

Nat crossed her arms. "Doesn't Pepper make you spaghetti?"

"Yeah but it ain't even close to being as good as this," he scoffed. Then he backtracked, "don't tell her I said that, though. Okay?" he made us promise. We all laughed.

"Thanks, Stark," Nat said, still chuckling.

We both took a seat at the counter.

When I sat down on the chair, I winced.

"You alright?" Vizh asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, it's just, yesterday's practice," I explained.

"Ah. Yeah, that happened to all of us. You need to train again today. The pain'll go away much quicker," Stark advised.

"I don't know if I'm up for that."

"No, you'll be fine. Just do the proper stretches before you take on the hologram."

"Alright," I agreed.

Nat got up to serve us. She handed me a plate filled with spaghetti and then sat down, setting her own plate in front of her.

I grabbed the fork placed on the right of the plate, it was presented in a fancy-ish, way, wrapped around a cloth napkin. Then I dug into the spaghetti. And Tony was right. It was good. Very good.

After I was eating I complimented Nat and excused myself, wincing again as I got up. I headed to my room to get changed into something a little bit more comfortable to wear to the training room. Currently I sported a plain grey t-shirt that was a few sizes too large for me, and a pair of regular ol' blue jeans.

So I put on a white tank top and shorts, an outfit I knew I'd be able to get around easily in.

I opened the door to my room, heading now to go train, when I suddenly stood face to face with Vision, his left arm up and his hand in a slight fist, getting ready to knock.

"Wanda--" Vision gasped, obviously suprised.

He was really close, so close that the elbow of the arm he was about to knock with hung right above my shoulder, almost touching it. I just realized in that moment how tall he was.

But I wasn't thinking about that. I couldn't. I couldn't think about anything. I just stared into his eyes, watching them as they watched mine. And I almost felt compelled to reach out to him, to touch him, to feel his skin. But I didn't. I couldn't move.

It was strange. I felt something I hadn't felt since I'd last seen Pietro. A connection. A real one.

He looked in amazement at me, as if he felt it as well.

I cocked my head slightly to the right. I'd only ever been able to feel Pietro's mind like this. It felt like his mind was about to verge with mine. Like our thoughts were about to be intertwined. But how strange would that be? Think about it, his mind, perfectly organized and neat, the mere definition of order, colliding with mine, so filled with saddness and anger and loss, on the brink of chaos.

Ah, yes. Order and chaos. Different and unique in their own ways, but opposite? No, they aren't opposites, because one thing that order and chaos both have in common, one thing that makes all their differences a vague and forgotten memory, is that they are both broken in their own ways. Equally, right down the middle. This is the one thing they share, the one thing they have in common, yet it overlooks _everything_ else.

I couldn't stop myself. I reached out to him mentally, looking into his memories, his feelings, confusion being the most he experienced. That brought a smile to my lips. I closed my eyes as I went through all the other scenes he granted me access to.

I could feel him looking through mine as well, at least, the ones I allowed him. I didn't let him see memories of my childhood, or the pain that I went through after my parents died, or after Pietro died, but, at least, they brought him back. I didn't let him feel love, or any other major emotional memory I had, I wasn't trying to be greedy, I just didn't want him to feel everything all at once, I didn't know how he'd react. And I wanted him to figure out love and loss for himself, because love means different things for different people, just like loss.

Looking through his mind was like sifting through the pages of the most beautifully written book I'd ever read. I didn't really want it to end, and by the time we were done looking into each other's souls, I had lost track of time. It could have been a few minutes we were standing there, it could've been a few hours, I honestly couldn't tell.

I broke the connection we made, along with the scilence. "How long have we been standing here?" I whispered as softly as I could.

"Exactly three hours, five minutes, and twenty-eight seconds. Twenty- nine, thirty, thirty-one, thir--"

I placed a finger to his lips. "Shhh."

"Why?"

"I need to think."

"About what?"

"About what just happened, Vizh." I broke away from him and walked back into my room. He followed and closed the door behind him. "How did I do that? I've never even been able to look into Pietro's mind that clearly. It was like I was right there with you."

"Then perhaps we can use it to our advantage," he suggested, taking a step closer to me.

"In what way?"

"You know, in the battlefield. I'm sure we could also use it to play a few tricks on Nat and Tony."

I chuckled. "Yeah, that could be fun." I sighed. "But we don't know if this will even work again."

"That means we don't know that it _won't_ work. It's worth a try, don't you think?"

"I suppose," I agreed. I connected our minds again, so they weren't colliding, they were just close. I could feel some of his general emotions, not that deep, though, so I couldn't see _in_ his mind, I just barely scratched the surface of what he was thinking. He could do the same thing to my mind, he did, infact.

"Try to send me something."

"Like what?" I smiled.

"I don't know, a message, another memory?"

I shook my head. "I've only ever been able to do that with Pietro. It's no use trying."

"Mabye you're wrong. And it _is_ worth a try. Please?"

I considered a moment, and hesitated before thinking, _Hi_ , and shoving the thought towards his mind uneffortlessly, and genuinly convinced that it'd never make the trip there, that our connection, our _bond_ that we had just made could in no way ever be strong enough. But a second later--

_See? I told you so, Wanda_.

Previously I had been staring at the floor, sitting on the edge of my bed, shoulders slumped and back hunched, elbow resting on my knee, and palm of my hand supporting my head, waiting silently for something I was convinced would never come. But sometimes I'm wrong, and this was one of those times. He was sitting across from me, using the desk chair I offered him.

I heard a faint whisper in my head. _See? I told you so, Wanda_ , his message back to me echoed in my mind. My mouth opened slightly in suprise, and I stared at the floor a few seconds longer in disbelief. I blinked a couple times and finally looked up to find a relaxed Vision leaning back in his chair, staring into my eyes.

"I received _your_ message, Wanda. And... I presume... you received mine?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, guys, I hope you liked it. I'm really running out of ideas, so if you have some please comment them. If not, this fic could turn out to be way shorter than I meant it to. The three c's are greatly appreciated. Comments keep me writing, guys. Even if it's just criticism, I love to hear what you think. Chapter five might take a few extra days to upload, but I promise it's coming, it's just that, I have school and a bit of a cold and hardly any ideas so it might be a shorter chapter like this as well.


	5. Suprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took so long to upload. My internet went out temporarily and it literally JUST came back on. Hope you guys like it even though it's shorter

 I paced around the room, uneasy. "How is this possible?" I muttered to myself, "It doesn't make sense, none of it does, I've known him for a year."

  
 "I can hear you, you know," came a voice behind me.

  
 I almost forgot Vizh was there. I turned around to look at him, sitting calmly, legs criss-crossed on the bed. Then I turned back to continue my disscussion with myself.

  
 After a few minutes I finally came to a conclusion. "No one can know about this," I said, turning to him, "no one. Infact, we should just pretend this never happened."

  
 He got up suddenly and took a step toward me, a bewildered look across his face. "I don't understand. This is good. We can use this to our advantage. And you're right, no one has to know. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep practicing this. Just in case we're in a situation where we ever really need it."

  
 I sighed. "I don't know, Vizh. We can't keep something like from the team."

  
 "Yes, we _can_. We all have the right to keep secrets. So this can be ours. _Our_ secret."

  
 I considered for a moment. Mabye Vizh was right. This _could_ be used for something good. "I'll think about it, okay? It's already late, but I'm going to train a bit anyways," I headed for the door, "by tomorrow I should have an answer."

  
 "Alright, well, I hope you say yes. Good night."

  
 "Good night."

  
 We both headed for the door, and though I was closer to it, he insisted on opening it for me. "Allow me," he said polietly as he turned the knob and swung the door open. He headed to his room as I headed to the training room.

 

 

 

xxxxxxxx

  
 When I got there I stretched and worked out a bit first before attempting to take on another of my monsters.

  
 It was a little easier defeating the hologram this time, I don't know why, though. I would've expected it to be harder, but I fought through the pain and won.

  
  After that I went to my room immediatly and fell asleep, thinking about Vision. The connection we made, the bond we'd established. I wondered what it meant. It felt great to be granted permission to poke around in someone's head, I hadn't done it in so long, but... and I'm not trying to sound nosey. I'm not always that compelled to look through someone, but, I wasn't just _compelled_. I don't know how to explain it. I guess you could say we were suddenly... _drawn_ to one another.

  
 I didn't have much time to think about it, though, because soon I was too busy being fast asleep.

 

 

 

xxxxxxx  
 In the morning we were all gathered around the table, eating pancakes.

  
 "So, Wanda..." Tony spoke up.

  
 "Yes?" I looked up from my food and noticed that Vizh, Nat, and Stark were all casting nervous glances at each other. "Is everyhting all right?" I asked curiously.

  
 "Actually, everything's great. And it's about to get better." Tony smiled at me.

  
 "What do you mean? What's happened?"

  
 "We have a suprise for you," Nat said excitedly.

  
 I chuckled. No one has given me a suprise since... a long time. "What is it?"

  
 "We've contacted Captain Rodgers... _and_... arranged visitation rights," Vision smiled as well, stopping mid-sentence to find the right words.

  
 "Visitation rights?" I let out a short laugh. "With whom?" I asked, though I thought I already knew the answer.

  
 "We felt that you and your brother shouldn't be without seeing each other this long. We could all tell you missed him so we called up Steve, and... he agreed. We've set a time, date, and place," Tony said as he watched my face carefully, waiting, _searching_ for some kind of reaction from me.

  
 I chuckled and realized a tear was rolling down my cheek. They were right. I missed my brother so much. I couldn't wait until I got to see him again.

  
 "When?" I asked in a half whisper.

  
 "Just three days," Nat replied. "Three days."

  
 I smiled and cried at the same time. Nat, who sat next to me, held my hand when I started trembling. A faint "thank you," was all I could muster at the time.

  
 She pulled me in for a hug. "Just three more days, sweetie," she repeated over and over again while she stroked my hair.

  
 A couple minutes passed by when I had finally fully recovered. I broke away from Nat and looked up. The seats that had once occupied the boys were empty. I wiped the leftover tears from my eyes. "Thank you so much," I laughed again, still thinking I was imagining this, that it wasn't real. Perhaps I was dreaming. But, no. I wasn't.

  
 "It's not me you should thank. It was Stark's idea, you know."

  
 I nodded. "Where'd they go?"

  
 "A few minutes ago they left. They're in the lab."

  
 I nodded again. Then, I quickly ate the rest of my food, washed the dishes (It was my turn today), and said my goodbyes to Nat. I headed for the lab.  I took the elevator down and rapped softly on the open door.

  
 They were both in there, and it appeared they were lost in deep conversation-- and argument. You could hear their hushed bickerings from down the hall. As soon as they noticed I was at the door, though, they stopped and turned to greet me instead.

  
 "Hey, Wanda. You okay?" Tony asked in a concerned and strangely... _fatherly_ tone.

  
 I nodded and nervously eyed the floor before looking back up at them again. "I hope I'm not interrupting something," I half asked, still standing in the doorway.

  
 "No, of course not," Tony answered quickly. "Just debating when we should have our first team training session."

  
 "Oh," I answered, sounding a bit more dissapointed than I actually was.

  
 "Would you like to come in?" Vizh spoke up for the first time, gesturing to the room.

  
 I slowly walked in. And now the space became awkward while silence filled the air.

  
 I was the first one to speak after a long minute, "I just wanted to thank you. Nat said the visit was your idea," I directed at Stark.

  
 "Hey, it's no problem. I'm glad you're happy."

  
 I nodded and took a step closer. "But, still-- I mean-- it was really nice of you."

  
 He smiled. "Like I said, it's no problem. And I'm not the only one who put it together, it was definitely _not_ a solo act. It couldn't have been done without Vizh and Nat. It was my idea, and I called him up, but, they did most of the work I'm ashamed to say. They figured out which time, date, and place would be the most... _appropriate_ for our little meeting, they determined the quickest and safest route there and--"

  
 I cut him off by rushing forward and pulling him in for a hug. Then I broke away and hugged Vision. They were both a bit startled and suprised by my movements but each hugged me back regardless.

  
 "You can't believe how much this means to me," I said, looking back and forth at the two, now standing in front of them.

  
 Stark placed a hand on my shoulder. "You're a good kid, Maximoff. You deserve to feel happy, and if happy is seeing your brother whenever we're able to schedule it, then that's what we'll do for you."

  
 Vizh nodded slowly in agreement, but wasn't looking at me or Stark. He was staring at the navy blue tiled floors, his eyebrows slightly creased, as if he was lost in his own train of thought, too distracted by something to actually pay attention to what Stark had said before.

  
 I was intrigued by what the Vision might be thinking about, I always was. Sometimes I wondered a long while what went on inside his head, how his mind actually worked. But for now I simply smiled.

  
 I had my own thoughts to worry about. Pietro, for instance, and what he'll say to me when I see him. I was partly scared of how he might think of me. The word _'traitor'_ comes to mind. But I hadn't regretted my choice to join Stark's team, not really. I never did. And now I know I never _will_. After all that they've done for me, the least I can offer them is my allegience and trust, my will and determination to fight for them, and, of course, my _abilities_.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for reading. And, as always, comments, criticisms, and concerns are very much appreciated. PLEASE comment. I like hearing what you guys think- is it good? is it bad? did you like it? did you hate it?- anything, really. Hopefully chapter six will be up very soon. :)


	6. Conscience

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I'm busy with school, and it's hard to write sometimes (I literally just finished this). Sorry if it sucks.

The next day wreaked havoc on us all.

  
 We scrambled to and fro, back and forth, all four of us, to get our things packed. We would be spending tomorrow night in the town of Edmond in Oklahoma. We figured if we met in a sort of... non- major city of the world, it would be best, because, well, who's going to think the Avengers are going to spend a few days in Oklahoma for some... unknown reason? New York City or  California or Washington D.C or something would probably be more likely.

  
 And we also had less of a chance to be recognized. Think about it-- less people to be recognized _by_ (there certainly aren't as many people in Edmond than in New York, now, are there?), along with the fact that you wouldn't expect to see an Avenger in such a small town, convinced us that we should go _there._ That that was the best option, the best way to keep _everyone_ safe.

  
 We'll stay in an old, rundown motel for one days and two nights. We'll leave early in the morning, _tomorrow_ morning, and drive from the facility in New York to Oklahoma. It's a long way, but we were determined to make it, even if we didn't get to the motel until late at night.

  
 We figured it would be best to drive in a normal, everyday, _completely_ mundane car, instead of using the quinjet to get around. _What if someone saw us land?_ was the question that convinced us all to drive instead. It just seemed too risky. We decided it'd be better to take the safer route than the faster one.

  
 It was already 10:00 pm and I was still still stuck in my room, trying to figure out what to wear the day after tomorrow. What I would wear when I saw Pietro. At first I considered my new dress, but  then I thought that might be too formal. Then I considered a plain grey shirt and my blue jeans, but then I thought that might be a bit too casual.  I couldn't decide. I was too excited to think about it. So I took a break. I lied on my bed and stared up at the ceiling.

  
 I pretended that I wasn't looking at a white wall, but the stars. I saw dark purple and blue and black and pink and yellow and white. I imagined so much color, it almost pained me to see it. I reached out for space, and I felt I almost touched it. It was _beautiful_. At the time it seemed hard for me to believe that anything as innocent and remarkable as space could be feared of, or rather, some of the species that inhabits it. The sight I imagined absolutely took my breath away. And _everything_ was moving. Not _one_ thing stayed still. And you could never accuse any part of the image I marveled at, bland... or boring, even. No. It was surely a sight to see.

  
 I reluctantly shook the image from my head and got back up. I grabbed the grey shirt from my closet, then the jeans, then I added my light blue windbreaker I hardly ever wore, and decided _that's_ what I would wear. Now my suitcase was all packed.

  
 I used my powers to lift it and it followed me out my door, down the hall, and around the corner into the living room, where everyone else's bags were. Everyone was in there as well, Tony was looking over a checklist he had on a clipboard, a pen tucked behind his ear. He took it in his hand every few seconds and used it to mark the paper, then placed it back. It looked like Nat and Vizh were playing chess, and Vision, of course, was winning. When I walked in they all briefly looked up from their occupations, then turned back, and a chorus of greetings rang out in the room.

  
 Tony pointed to a pile of backpacks  and suitcases without looking up from his list, and as soon as I set mine down next to the rest he marked his paper once again. I walked over to the couch and sat next to Vision. For a second he looked like he was deep in thought, but the next he grabbed one of the pieces and moved it, and smiled as he whispered "checkmate," in Natasha's direction.

  
 Nat grumbled and helped Vision put away the game. "Do you _ever_ lose?"

  
 "No," he replied simply, in a way that made me chuckle. He said it as if he knew how smart he was, and acted like it wasn't a big deal.

  
 Nat laughed as well. "Yeah, I know. Just ask _me_. I've never been even _close_ to beating him, even after all the times we've played," she told me, and nodded at Vision, "I'd bet he could beat _anyone."_

  
 I nodded. "So would I."

  
 "So would I," Vision agreed from across the room, as he put the game board into a storage box.

  
 Nat and I smiled at that as Vision walked back over.

  
 "So, is Stark okay?" I whispered to them, a bit concerned. I gestured to him. He was still standing in the same spot he was when I first came in, and was still doing the exact same thing. Except now he was muttering to himself.

  
 Nat glanced over at him and nodded her head. "Yeah, he'll be fine," she said, and sounded a bit unsure.

  
 "Yes, he is. He's just being a bit of an obsessive at the moment," Vision added. "He's worried something will go wrong, or that we'll forget something. You know how he is."

  
 I nodded.

  
 A voice errupted from behind me. "You know I can hear you guys, right?" Tony didn't look up from his paper as he made the remark, and it made us all smile.

  
 I was happy there. I really was.

  
 He finally looked up and sighed, interrupting my thoughts. He tossed the clipboard on the counter and rubbed his face with his hands. He looked tired, we all did.

  
 "Okay, I think we have everything," Tony thought out loud, staring at our pile of luggage. He turned to us, "We should all be able to get a few hours of sleep in before we leave. I advise you all do that," he nodded. "I know _I_ will."

  
 "So, we're leaving at five, right?" Nat asked. She glanced at her wristwatch. "It's almost eleven."

  
 "Yeah, we're leaving at five. So we should all meet back here, say, four-forty?" Stark said.

  
 "Sounds like a plan," Vizh agreed.

  
 "Good." Stark left.

  
 "Yeah, much as I hate to admit it, Stark might be right on this one. I'm gonna get some sleep, too." Nat got up and headed to her room.

  
 "Night!" I called after her.

  
 She waved over her shoulder to me.

  
 For a split second I considered going to my room and trying to fall asleep, but, I was so excited I didn't think I could. I sat back in the couch at the same time Vision got up from it. He looked back at me. "Aren't you tired?"

  
 I shook my head. "No."

  
 He sat back down.

  
 "You don't have to do that," I assured him.

  
 "Do what?"

  
 "Keep me company. That _is_ what you sat back down for, isn't it?"

  
 "Yes. It's no bother. I'd happily keep you company."

  
 "You were gonna go to sleep though, weren't you?"

  
 "I don't require as much rest as you do, Wanda. I'll be fine. Believe me," he chuckled.

  
 "What's funny?"

  
 He shook his head. "Nothing, it's just..." he looked down to the floor.

  
 "Just?" I pushed. I was curious, what can I say? I waved a hand in front of his face.

  
 He finally looked back up at me. "Nothing.  I'm just not used to people getting... I don't know... _concerned_ on my behalf. It's strange."

  
 "It's strange for me to care about you? Your well being?"

  
 He didn't answer for a while, just stared back at the floor. "It's not that Tony and Natasha don't do that, 'cause they do, they care. But... they don't have to. _You_ don't have to. No one does, really," he said softly, still staring at the floor.

  
 "Why do you say that?"

  
 He finally turned to me. "I'm not human."

  
 "See, that's where you're wrong."

  
 "How am I wrong? It's the truth. I'm not, and I never will be," he raised his voice.

  
 I didn't flinch, or gasp, or act shocked or scared in any way. I acted calmly, I _was_ calm, after all. That might scare some people, I realized. To hear him shout at you. But it didn't scare me. I think he scared himself, though.

  
 He gasped and looked shocked at himself, like he didn't know it was possible for him to get angry. He quickly looked away from me, and I didn't have to read his mind to tell that he was ashamed.

  
 "I'm sorry," he said.

  
 "There's nothing to be sorry for," I assured him. He still wouldn't look at me. "Hey, it happens to everyone." He still wouldn't look. He turned his head though, slightly toward me when I said the word 'everyone.' He acted as though he didn't hear me right.

  
 A few seconds passed by. "Everyone?"

  
 "Yes, everyone. I promise. Everyone gets angry outbursts like that sometimes," I told him.

  
 "But..." he stared into my eyes, "I'm not a part of _everyone_. I'm different."

  
 I nodded. "Different is good."

  
 "Not always. Different isn't always good," he countered.

  
 "In some cases it is."

  
 He sighed and turned away again. He had a sad look on his face, a look that could make _anyone_ feel sorry for him.

  
 "Hey," I spoke softly, to get his attention. It didn't work. "Vizh," I said a little louder this time. He still didn't look at me. I sat still for a few minutes, trying to think of something that might cheer him up.

  
 Finally, I reached for his hand, the left one, the one that sat on the couch in between us. It seemed as though it were calling out to me, like it was placed there for a reason. Like my hand was _meant_ to slip into his that night. I was careful while I unnoticeably nudged my hand toward his little by little, and I just barely touched the back of it with my index finger, and all of a sudden he snapped his head around and stared at the finger that had made contact with his skin. His hand quivered slightly, but then it became still again.

  
 I was a little shocked by his reaction, though, I'm not sure what I was expecting. I had shocked him as well, it was pretty obvious to me, I could tell in the way he moved. "I'm sorry," I apologized and pulled away from him, just then notcing how close to him I was.

  
 We were both silent for a few minutes. I was staring at the wall in front of us, feeling a lot less comfortable now than I was earlier. While I stared I scolded myself, _"What did you_ think _was gonna happen, huh?"_ my conscience asked. _"Did you think you would hold hands with him and he would hold hands with you and that would be that? No. You  can't possibly be stupid enough to. It would probably just make things more complicated than they already were. It's a good thing that he pushed you away."_

  
 " _Complicated? How are things complicated between us?"_ I asked.

  
 " _Oh, please. You know what I'm talking about, Wanda. Like, the way you can communicate mentally. That must mean something, right? And I know you think highly of him, he's important to you. Don't try to deny it, you know I've seen your thoughts. I_ am _your thoughts. And you've known all along why he stared down at the floor yesterday after you hugged him. You knew all  along what he was thinking about, or rather who he was thinking about. He's felt things with you, you know."_

  
_"Stop it."_

  
_"I'm just warning you. Leave while you can. Go to your room. Hide. Avoid him. Avoid what he could mean to you. You know what happens when the people around you get too close."_

  
_"Shut up!"_ I yell at myself. _"It wasn't my fault, what happened to my parents. Everyone told me it wasn't my fault, and that I should never blame myself. Nothing happens to the people I love, all of that was a coincidence."_

  
  _"You've never really believed that though, have you? You were the last Maximoff to live. That wasn't a coincidence. The coincidence was that the technology that Stark had was so advanced that the cradle could bring Pietro back, and it did. You think it's a curse, that all the people you care about are taken from you. Mabye you're right, mabye it is a curse, mabye you're wrong, who cares? For all you know it's some sort of punishment, mabye someone in your family was cursed and it got passed down to you. Who knows? It might even be what you want it to be-- a coincidence. Mabye. But you can't take that chance. You can't afford to really, really care about someone right now. Because if it does turn out to be a curse or whatever, and they're taken from you just like your parents were, you know it would tear you apart. So don't. I'm warning you."_

  
  _"And I said shut up."_

  
 I focused as hard as I could to shut my conscience out.  It worked, because I couldn't hear it anymore, thankfully.

  
 I had become so distracted by what it was saying, what it warned, and then blocking it off, that I hadn't noticed Vision had been staring at me the whole time.

  
  Once I was more aware of what was around me, I felt his blue, gentle eyes, with their complex design that was so captivating and entrancing, on me. It was like the times you felt someone's eyes on the back of your neck, but this was deeper somehow. I turned to find that he had spun his head around at some point to look my way, and that his eyes were now locked onto mine, and again, in a way deeper than I had ever felt possible.

  
  He grabbed my hand and gently pulled it toward him. He intertwined our fingers, and I did the same, ignoring my conscience. Then he offered a gentle smile that I returned right away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for reading. I hope you liked it. Either way, please leave a comment. Again, sorry it was really late and I hope it isn't as bad as I think it is. Tell me what you think. Also, if you guys have any suggestions or ideas for chapters, please comment them.


	7. Normal

The rest of the time we had, we spent talking and laughing. Mostly over mundane things like the weather, or our favorite activities, or our passions.

It’s what we used to do before the war. We used to talk like this, like nothing else mattered, as if we weren’t Avengers, as if we could talk forever, like in a few hours morning wouldn’t come and we could spend eternity learning about each other. But… morning always came.

I groaned as Natasha shook me awake, calling my name over and over. I squinted and yawned, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “I presume it’s five, then?” I asked while I stretched.

“It’s five-ten, actually,” Nat corrected. “Come on, let’s get you in the car. The boys are just getting the rest of the things into the minivan we’re using.”

I stood and sleepily walked to the van with Natasha, half leaning on her the whole time.

When we got there, she slid open the door for me and I crawled inside, buckled in, and leaned my head against the window. I tried to keep my eyes open but I couldn’t. I fell right back asleep.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

I woke up around eight am. Natasha was sitting in the seat next to me. You could tell she was tired, and that she hadn’t slept since we started driving, but she stayed alert.

Tony was driving. He looked nervous, glancing in the rear-view mirror regularly.

Vizh was sitting next to him in the passenger’s seat. Half the time he was looking out of his window, taking everything in, observing it and memorizing the patterns in the road. The other half he was staring at Tony, watching him steer and break and look in all the mirrors.

I sat up. The right side of my head hurt a little from resting it on the window. “Where are we?” I yawned.

Nat looked over at me, just then noticing I was awake. “Hey,” she smiled, “good morning, sleepyhead.”

]Tony cleared his throat. “Uh, almost in Ohio.”

I nodded.

“Hey, there’s a gas station coming up, guys. I’m gonna head for it, we’re running a little low,” Tony said.

“Alright. And, hey, Tony?” Nat said.

“Hmm?”

“I can drive if you’re getting tired, you know.”

“Nah, I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“It’s been three hours, Tony.”

“I know. I’m fine. Promise.”

Nat sighed.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, Nat, you can buy me a coffee when we get there.”

Nat scoffed. “I’m not going to buy you a coffee,” she mumbled.

I chuckled. This was gonna be fun.

We pulled up to the parking lot.

“Before you go in put this on,” Tony reached back and handed Nat a black hoodie.

She took it and nodded, pulling it over her shirt.

“You wanna go in with me?” Nat asked.

“Yeah, sure.”

Stark pulled another hoodie exactly like the one Nat had from the compartment under his seat. “Here.”

I took it and put it on.

He turned to Vizh. “Maybe you should go with the girls.”

“You’ll be fine by yourself?” Vision asked, speaking for the first time.

He nodded and reached back into the compartment. He pulled out a plain black cap and another hoodie identical to ours. “Put both of these on.”

No one had to wear our disguises inside the car because the windows were tinted enough so you couldn’t see inside.

Once everyone was ready Stark pulled out a wad of cash from the compartment and unraveled a few bills. He stuffed the money in Vision’s hoodie pocket and put the wad back. “That should be enough.”

“Okay, kids.” He clapped his hands then rubbed them together. He swiveled so he could face all three of us at the same time. “Stay together,” he said. “Don’t attract any attention. Stay quiet. Be careful.” He looked scared and nervous. He was scared and nervous. We all were.

We all stared at him, waiting for permission to go. He sucked in a breath of air, then, now looking at the floor, he mumbled, “Go break some eggs.”

We opened our doors at the exact same time. Me and Vizh stepped on the sidewalk and waited for Nat to come around the car.

I noticed you could still see a big portion of Vision’s face even though he had a hat and a hood on. I reached up and tugged at the drawstrings of his jacket. This helped a little, but you could still see a bit off his face.

“Is it noticeable?” he asked.

At first I said nothing, I didn’t know what to say, and then I gave him a reassuring smile and said “Just make sure to keep your head down.”

He nodded and looked to the ground.

Nat came jogging up to us. “Let’s go.”

She walked ahead of us and grasped her fingers around the handle of the door. She swung it open, gesturing for us to come inside. A bell rung, announcing our arrival. After we all got in, the door closed behind her.

“Good morning,” called out a monotone voice from behind the counter.

The woman seemed to be in her late fifties, and as she gloomily greeted us she didn’t look up from her computer screen. She was dressed in a black uniform, whose shirt was plain except for a small logo on the upper right corner of the shirt, and a breast pocket on the upper left corner, parallel to the logo. Her black jeans were hidden by the counter, and so were her black shoes.

None of us said anything, we just hoped she wouldn’t be so interested as to look up at us and find herself in suspicion on our behalf.

The store was small, but featured many things to buy. Shelves full of individually wrapped sweets lined the walls, and rows of them were scattered all around the place. The building was a regular rectangular shape, and where we were standing, the doors we just came through was the back wall, and the front wall, directly in front of us, and not even thirty feet away, was the woman and the counter and the desktop computer. Her eyes had not moved. To the right of her was the fountain drinks, and to the left was the hot beverages such as tea, hot chocolate and coffee.

Nat and I headed toward the hall straight to the right of us, which had a sign that was hanging from the ceiling that was labeled “restrooms”.

At first Vizh followed closely behind but stopped when we reached the hall. He waited outside the women’s restroom door until we came back out.

After that Vizh and I looked around the store for something to buy. Nat went off towards the coffee station, taking a few dollars from Vision. I guess she felt sorry for Stark.

I had to constantly remind Vision to keep his head down, he kept forgetting. The woman behind the counter still hadn’t looked over at us but it’s better to be safe than sorry. I walked past the shelves and through the aisles, Vision staying close behind me. I can imagine it must have been hard to keep his head down that long, to have to look at the dirty white tile floor and not be able to see straight ahead. As we were walking he usually held onto a section of my jacket, or onto my hand, so he wouldn’t go off track or bump into something. I often turned my head around to make sure he was okay.

I didn’t find anything that I wanted so we headed over to Nat, who was still by the coffee. It was then I noticed his hand. His hand. _Crap. How could we have forgotten?_

I turned around to face him, my eyes wide, as the bell over the door rung. _Crap, crap, crap._ I watched as Stark walked in, and the feeling of relief washed over me. Vision heard the door as well, trying hard to keep himself from turning around to see who came in.

“It’s all right, it’s just Stark,” I whispered to him.

He had become stiff after hearing the bell, but as I said those words he relaxed, letting a breath of air escape his lips.

“Your hands, Vizh. We forgot about your hands.”

He looked down at them, and if his face could turn pale, it would’ve when he realized his red hands were exposed and open for the woman behind the counter to see. He quickly stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“Good morning,” came the same monotone voice we’d heard before.

Stark speed walked over to us, keeping his eyes on the cashier, curious and relieved that she hadn’t looked over at him. “Why are you guys taking so long?” he complained when he reached us.

“Tony, I need—"

“Gloves?” Stark interrupted. He reached into his own hoodie pocket and pulled out black leather gloves.

Vision took them from Tony’s grasp. “Yes, thank you.” Vizh put them on.

“I’m sorry kid,” he apologized, giving Vizh a pat on his back. “I forgot.”

“Yeah, so did we,” I added.

“So where’s Nat?” he asked. “I kinda wanna get out of here as fast as possible.”

I turned around to face the coffee station but I didn’t see her there anymore.

“Come on, slowpokes,” a voice from the door urged.

Me and Vizh looked over Stark’s shoulder to see Nat standing next to the door, about to push it open.

We came over to her and helped her with the coffee she bought. She got three, one for everyone. Well, one for everyone that could eat.

As Stark opened the door for us the bell rung again, and the woman behind the counter said “Good morning.” We all laughed when we got outside and onto the sidewalk again, walking off together toward the car. And I thought that if we lost our disguises and dressed in normal clothes, and if Vision looked a little less like Vision, and if we hadn’t all gone through what we had gone through, then maybe we could call ourselves normal. Maybe we could’ve been normal. ‘Cause, I _felt_ normal. I felt like my old self. I felt good, really good. In fact, I felt great. I haven’t felt great in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys. It's been a while. Sorry about that. I hope you liked this chapter and hopefully the next one will be here soon. Please comment. It really helps. Thanks for reading this far.


	8. Break

Hey Guys. I think I’m gonna take a little break with this story for a while. I don’t think the break will last very long, but, I have writer’s block. I’ve had it for the past month. I’ll get over it in a while. Always do. But for now I’m gonna focus on my other story I just started. You should check it out. Hopefully it’s better than this one. But, like I said, this one is unfinished and I will get back to it when I become bored with the other one. Thank you guys for making it this far. I promise it will get better later, I have more ideas I just can’t seem to bring myself to write them down. It’s weird. Anyways, love you guys, check out my new fic, and “It’s a Working Title(I’ll edit later)” will be back soon! 

Love, Order_and_Chaos


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